Does anyone have any recommendations as far as a spray bottle that will mist matte medium, 50/50 mix, or do I just need to buy the Woodland Scenics sprayer?
Thanks,
Dan
Your local garden center will have shelves of them, probably a larger drug and hardware store, too. They are used often by enough people for all sorts of applications that there is a steady market for them.
Crandell
Dan,
If you plan to ‘spray’ Matte Medium’ - Make sure you clean out the sprayer immediately after using it. I would not suggest spraying/misting Matte Medium - I dilute it about 3 or 4 to 1 with water when I use it for fixing my ballast. I ‘dribble’ it on using a pipette or an eye dropper - Much better control. Spraying around track is a sure fire way to glue your turnouts ‘stuck’. For scenery, I basically ‘paint’ it on full strength and then sift the ground foam over it…
Jim
Just grabbed me three new ones myself, since I’m planning on putting down some ground cover. I use a 50/50 matter medium/water mixture for that, but Jim is right – make sure you clean it well or it will gum up the works.
I found my spray bottles at Michaels in flower arranging gear – $1.99/each. If you buy 'em cheap enough, you don’t worry so much about them clogging.[Y]
Dan I’m with Jim on this one in I wouldn’t spray MM. In fact I have taken not to using MM at all anymore and stick to white glue.
But if you still need a sprayer for MM ( or any other use) you probably have several under the kitchen sink that will work just fine. In the off chance you don’t or the bottles are close to full why not head to the local Dollar store and get the best sprayer you can find there. It doesn’t matter what the product is you are buying the sprayer
ratled
It’s Super Tuesday, and I’m casting my vote for pipettes rather than sprayers. Sprayers make a mess, and the air pressure from the spray pushes around your carefully-arranged ballast or scenic material. Pipettes, on the other hand, give precise control of both location and volume. I use the pipettes to apply isopropyl alcohol straight from the bottle as a wetting agent.
I also use white glue. I’ve got a bunch of smaller Elmers bottles that I refill from a gallon container of white glue from a big-box hardware store. I mix mine about 1 part glue to 3 parts water. These small bottles can be used directly as applicators.
You gotta be careful with matte medium or white glue for that matter. Not only will it gum up the throwbar and points on a turnout if it comes into contact with it, but it will also get under rail joiners and cut off power to the adjoining rails.
Spray it on large areas of ground cover but carefully spoon it on ballast.
Rich
Spray bottles are all around you. Check your recycle bin.
I use Elmer’s, which I also buy in gallon containers. I paint it on straight with Dollar Store brushes, place the ground cover on top of that, and spray Elmer’s, diluted about 4 to 1 with alcohol on top. I protect the track with a barrier before spraying. In tight quarters I use disposable pipettes.
Just a clarification and an update.
I am using a 50/50 mixture of white glue not matte medium. (sorry, I thought it was the same thing.)
And the plant mister sprayer from Walmart works great.
Thanks for your help.
Dan
Yep. Been there, done that.
Even if you’re careful, you can still screw something up with a teaspoon or a pipette. Even using a pipette, every so often I have an attack of the “yips” and send a small geyser gushing on to my layout, blasting everything out of position.
I get my spay bottles a Sam’s Club you can find them with all the cleaning gear. As to put ballast down I use isopropyl alcohol to wet the ballast & a matte medium (do not get the glossy) mix in a bottle (looks like a catsup bottle) that I got at Micheals. Spays are ok if doing a large area if you wet it down good but for ballast I just let it dribble out.
I’m having a hard time figureing out why anyone would spend a penny on spray bottles. If you use any kind of household cleaner–409, Lysol, Windex, etc.-- they can be reused perpetually for layout work. We (wife and bi-weekly cleaning ladies) buy refills for most spray cleaners we use, but there are always odd ones that would go in recycle. Instead, they go to the train room.
Mike
First off I hope this makes sense! After some experimentation I found a small garden sprayer that you pressurize by pumping up with a small plunger (still with me?) far superior to the squeeze and spray type sprayer, I aimed it high and let the ‘wet’ water mix rain down with minimal effect on my Woodlands scenic ballast where as the squeeze type sprayer would displace the ballast with various sized droplets basically making a mess. I don’t have the privilege of having isopropyl alcohol readily available at a reasonable price so have to use the old water dishwasher detergent mix which for me works fine with the pressure sprayer.
I’ve had success spraying wet water through my airbrush. I only did it on a small test diorama in my spray booth but it should work anywhere, as long as your hose is long enough. Keep pressure down, 5-10 psi and spray above the area to be wetted and let it rain down in scale sized droplets. Once the area is sufficiently wet, you can move the airbrush closer to the scenery if you wish.
I’ve tried out all the spray bottles I could find! Scenic Express, Woodland Scenics, Micromark, Home depot, etc. The very best hands down, is the $2 dollar one from Hobby Lobby! It atomizes almost perfectly, Has a wider base for stability, and best of all its 2 dollars…1/3 the price of Scenic Express!
73,
Royce WN5L